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ME. EVANS 



THE PRESIDENCY. 



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To the People of the United States : 

I offer myself for this august position. Let there be an open 
field, and the election no longer managed and controlled by Politi- 
cians, apt, often, to be tainted, more or less, with knavery; and, 
if the step I am here taking be termed eccentric, let the hack- 
neyed charge, so narrow and peccant, pass for all it is worth. 
But it should be borne in mind that the times tend to tangency, 
and there may be needed a corresponding course in candidacy. 
Suppose a party, in a democratic State, were, in its corruptions 
and power, overriding her liberties, there might be occasion for 
a Dictatorship ; and does the f world suppose I would not be on 
hand? 

Bnt we will hope better things for ourselves, at least for a 
while, and travel a'.ong in a, comparatively, moderate way. I 
have one qualification for the Presidency, certainly not com- 
mon, and which ought to commend me to every man — oh ! and 
every woman, too, for the office ; and this is, that I have not the 
slightest desire for its honors, or power, or its remuneration ; and 
that I would not accept it but to Save the country, and enable 
her to reassume her dignity, and glory, amidst an unprecedented 
growth of loose theories, and a vast field of peculation and cur- 
rent frauds — ruinous, at once, to her morals and her treasury. 

I can say but little of details, nothing of the wide subject of 
slavery, and the disposal of the freedman, and but a word on the 









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war, in the small space of a Circular. I will, however, remark, 
generally, that if any one wishes to know who the, comparative- 
ly, obscure and humble individual, now writing, is, let him look, 
in pa,7't, to the New Hampshire Gazette, (Portsmouth, my native 
place,) for my fourteen Numbers over the signature of Junius 
Brutus, in 1811 ; to the Bar of that State, confronted with "Web- 
ster, in 1S13 ; to my Pedestrian tour of four thousand miles 
through the western wildernesses with my rifle and dogs, the 
latter destroyed by a herd of wolves in the great Miami swamp — 
the tour commencing in the winter of 1818; to the Legislature of 
New Hampshire in 1823, '4, '5, '7; to my embarcation for 
Greece, against the Turks, in 1825, with a very high testimonial 
from General LaFayette ; and to my re-election tef the Legisla- 
tuee of New Hampshire, whilst on my voyage home, beating for 
six weeks, and half-wrecked, on our wintry coast, after an absence 
of fourteen months, bringing with me encomiums from the great 
officials of that country ; to fourteen Numbers over the signa- 
ture of "A Marylander," in the National Intelligencer of "Wash- 
ington City; pending the election of General Harrison. The old 
citizens of "Washington will remember them, though the author- 
ship has remained secret until now — all the time the Hon. Pever- 
dy Johnson having the credit of them. 

My Platform for the Presidency, if any one should desire it, 
will always be ready — nothing kept back — 'a loophole for the 
equivocations of political casuistry. Every ( uestion, proper, and 
respectfully presented, will be promptly met, with a sincerity and 
candor, the glory of which shall cast into the shade all the Presi- 
dencies of earth. 

"With respect, again, to the, certainly, novel step — the tender- 
ing of myself for the Chief Executive Chaii of the Nation, the 
present eventful state of the country makes it my Duty ; for I 
here feel amwcrahle to (iod, for the powers he has given me, 
and which She has fostered by making me specially acquainted 
with her Spirit. And, besides, it is now quite too late to talk of a 
retiring delicacy — seeing the numerous stealthy aspirants for the 
ollice. And further, the man, whoever he may be, that hankers 



for the Presidency, and gloats over its emoluments, should not 
be trusted. Think you, People of the United States, that the 
South has found no itching palms at the North ? The South is 
wealthy. She had cause to speak loftily, aye, sarcastically, of 
King Cotton, for, she has hoarded up gold even now. Still- fur- 
ther : In addition to the first great purpose — crushing the Rebel- 
lion — there should now be a new Epoch of official disinterested- 
ness, and rectitude, and moral courage — harpooning off that 
loathsome shoal of sharks following in the wake of our ship of 
State, careening on a sea of blood ! 

As to the war, it must be cut short by success. The courage 
of our Leaders has not sufficiently savored of intrepidity, celerity 
of movement, combination, and the following up of achievments ; 
and our disasters, some of them having but little excuse, have 
been too slow in their recuperations. But I have, nevertheless, 
a favorable opinion of the patriotism, talents, and current wis- 
dom of the Administration. As just suggested, the war should 
be speedily ended ; and it can be. Long wars are exhausting ; 
and our expenditures of life and treasure alarm History, and 
blink of the throes ff Eevolution. I hope for, and expect, soon 
coming triumphs — <iven very decisive ones, in the south and 
southwest. But suppose severe reverses ! What then ? Why, 
every man must spring to his feet, and grapple, or the nation 
perishes ! Lee migljt have taken Washington ten times ; and so 
might we have takeji Richmond. Let us look ahead, and have 
a wide margin for infavorable contingencies. For one thing, 
we must no longer vait for lagging-winters to pass away. Val- 
ley Forge was in tie North ; winters harder then than now ; 
Philadelphia in th« hands of the enemy ; the hindrances of 
travel innumerable 5 and our resources, comparatively, nothing. 
Even Charles XII, of Sweden, almost in the region of perpetual 
congelation, scowled! in scorn, upon the blasts from the Pole — 
without any of those sweet appliances from gentle Lady-hands 
that, at once, comfor; the body, and inspire the soul of a true 
soldier — making him all chivalry. 

But I must not forget that this is a mere Circular, and that I 



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have got to count my shabby five-cent bills to see if I have 
money enough to pay the printer. Alas! poor in money — 
though rich in everything else. 

Yet, I "will not close just here, even now, and beg to say that 
the person, who next fills the Presidency, should be a whole — a 
sublime man, resting, with a giant grace on our primordial prin- 
ciples of Liberty and government, free from the entanglements 
of old party ties and pledges ; and he should "be able to say, NO ! 
and he should be able to clearly and strongly perceive the simple 
truth — cutting a straight and broad track through all crooked 
paths, with a spirit, honest, unselfish, sincere, candid, morally 
brave, and in full consciousness of the rights and powers of an 
intelligent, patriotic, and Sovereign people — a sovereignty in- 
herent, and always adequate to cover, as with a shield, the 
national existence, and her holy, better, and larger half — the 

Union. 

ESTWICK EYANS. 

Washington City, Ajwil, 1864. 



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